EN (English)
䷫
Hexagram 44 of 64
Coming to Meet
姤 · Gòu
A single yin line appearing at the bottom of five yang lines. The inversion of Breakthrough, and the classic's study of something small arriving that will not stay small.
encounter
temptation
small beginnings
vigilance
- King Wen number
- 44 of 64
- Above
- ☰ Qián · Heaven
- Below
- ☴ Xùn · Wind
- Composition
- Heaven over Wind
- Lines, bottom to top
- Broken · solid · solid · solid · solid · solid
- Chinese
- 姤 · Gòu
The Judgment
The maiden is powerful. One should not marry such a maiden.
An arrival that looks slight and is not. The classic's warning is about the trajectory, not the first meeting.
The Image
Wind under heaven: Coming to Meet. So the ruler issues commands and proclaims them to the four quarters.
Wind reaches everywhere. Something that spreads by contact is the model both for the danger and for the remedy.
What it means
Gou is Breakthrough inverted. One yin line has appeared at the bottom of the figure, and everything the hexagram says follows from the fact that it will keep rising.
The classic's tone is watchful rather than alarmed. The Judgment reads as a warning about a match that should not be made, and the first line supplies the mechanism: stop it now, with a bronze brake, because even a lean pig has it in it to rage about. Size at first meeting is not a guide to size later.
The hexagram is not simply about temptation, though it is often read that way. The second and fourth lines are a matched pair about a fish in a tank: present and contained in one, absent in the other, and the missing fish is the one that brings misfortune. Neglecting what you are responsible for is as much the subject as indulging what you should not be.
The fifth line is the hexagram's most beautiful. A melon wrapped in willow leaves, its markings hidden, and then it drops down from heaven. Something valuable kept covered until it is ready, and arriving of its own accord.
In a reading
Coming to Meet as an answer flags an encounter or an influence that has just entered the situation and looks minor.
Its counsel is early attention. Deal with it now, while a small check is enough, rather than after it has grown. The hexagram is not asking for alarm, and it is asking you not to dismiss the thing because of its current size.
The six lines
Read a line's text only when the cast made it a moving line. They are listed from the top of the figure down, the way the hexagram is drawn.
-
Nine at the top
He meets it with his horns. Humiliation. No blame.
Confronting it head-on at the very top. Undignified, ineffective, and not actually wrong.
-
Nine in the fifth place
A melon wrapped in willow leaves. Hidden markings. Then it drops down from heaven.
The best line in the hexagram. Something valuable protected quietly until it ripens and falls of itself.
-
Nine in the fourth place
No fish in the tank. This leads to misfortune.
The other failure: losing contact with what you were responsible for. Neglect rather than indulgence.
-
Nine in the third place
No skin on the thighs, and walking is hard. Aware of the danger, no great mistake.
Caught between wanting to move and not being able to. Awareness is the entire remedy on offer.
-
Nine in the second place
A fish in the tank. No blame. It does not help to let guests near it.
Something contained, and best kept contained. Sharing it around is what makes it a problem.
-
Six at the beginning
Check it with a bronze brake. Steadfastness brings good fortune. Let it run and there is misfortune. Even a lean pig can rage about.
Stopping it at the first line, with something solid. The lean pig is the classic's reminder not to judge by present size.
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